Mechanical miner having a collapsible mining head



Aug. 6, 1957 R. F. Risse MECHANICAL MINER HAVING A COLLAPSIBL MINING HEAD Filed sept. 20, 1954 4 Sheets-lSheet 1 FII so v III a..

INVENTOR Ralph E Risse ATTORNEK -Uff 1 m m. .m a W K ,Illy ,I|I l n bm. o mm. l Q o Aug 6 1957 R. F. RlssE 2,801,836

MECHANICAL MINER HAVING A COLLAPSIBLE MINING HEAD Filed sept` 2o, 1954 v 4 sheets-sheet 2 Fig. 2

BY x Ralph F Risse 47W? 4 A T7` ORNE V R. F. RISSE Aug. 6, 1957 MECHANICAL MINEN HAVING A coLLAPsIBLE MINING HEAD Filed sept. zo, 1954 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. `Ralph F Risse BY H! @211mm W ATTORNEY Aug- 6, 1957 R. F. Risse q 2,801,836

MECHANICAL MINER HAVING A COLLAPSIBLE MINING HEAD Filed Sept. 20, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN V EN TOR.

Ralphmisse A T TORNE V idler shoes 29, and the lower guide chain 24 together with its auxiliary chain guides 27 and the idler sprockets 31 and the idler shoes 32 aiords a means of guiding an endless cutter chain 33. Such a cutter chain is driven by a'sprocket 34 extending from the forward wall of the drive housing 12, and the chain is additionally guided about a hub 36 for the right hand boring arm 14, and also about an idler sprocket 37 and a similar hub 38 on the other boring arm 14.

Asseen in Fig. 1 the idler sprocket 37 is mounted upon a support 38 which is shiftable into position upon a pair of spaced rails 39, so that the tension in the cutter chain 33may be suitably -adjusted as desired.

The lower chain guide 24 has movable therewith a pair ofpusher plates 41, each ofwhich is disposed to one side of the throat 18. The auxiliary lower chain guide 27 also carriestherewith Aan auxiliary pusher plate 42 and movable with Vrespect to pusher plate 41 upon conditions aswill'be described as this specification proceeds. l `Referring now to Figs. 3 to 5 of the drawings, details of the upper chain guide 21 and the auxiliary chain guide 26v will now be described. Each guide includes an essentially U-shaped guide 43, the open throat of the-U extending in a horizontal plane and the upper and lower limbs 44 of the U each having a guide 46 on the inner face thereof for guiding lugs 45 on the cutter chain 33, see also Fig. 6, so as to prevent same from falling out of the guide 43. l

. .The auxiliary guide 26 is movable lengthwise with respect to the mainv guide 21, and is held thereto for sliding movement in a direction lengthwise of the guide 21 by means of a T-shaped rail 47 extending fromthe back edge of the auxiliary guide 26 and riding in a mating groove 48 in the main chain-guide 21. l Y Means are provided for moving the auxiliary guide 26 with respect to the main guide 21 and to this end the main guide 21 has a longitudinally extending recess 48a in which is supported an hydraulic cylinder 49 having a piston rod 51 connected to the auxiliary guide 26. Admission of pressure uid to the cylinder 49 will cause its piston rod 51 to move the auxiliary guide 26 in an extensible or retractile direction as desired.

In the extended position of the auxiliary guide 26 with respect to the main guide 21, the cutter chain 33, not shown in this view, is unsupported. In order to accommodate the possible whipping movement of the cutter chain 33 because of its unsupported length the proximate ends of theV main cutter chain guide 21 and the auxiliary guide 26 are flared as at 52, so that the chain will smoothly enter the U-shaped guide 43.

f It will be understood that the structure shown in Fig. 3 is symmetrical about the center line of the machine and that such aring of the ends 52 will accommodate the chain irrespective of its direction.

' Referring again to Fig. 3, the auxiliary guide 26 has a limb 53 extending laterally of the main axis of the main chain guide 21, and the lateral extension 53 atords a means of support for the idler shoe 29.

The idler sprocket 28 seen in Fig. 3 is also supported upon the auxiliary chain guide 26 substantially at the point of intersection of the lateral extension 53 and the auxiliary chain guide 26. The idler sprocket 28 may be provided with a pilot cutting edge 54 and tapered cutting edges 56 to provide clearance for the sprocket 28 and also the idler shoe 29 as seen in Fig. 6. Details of construction of. the pilot cutter 54 and the cutters S6 are described in an application, owned by the assignee of the present invention, of Benjamin F. Tracy, Ser. No. 459,126, tiled September 29, 1954, for improvements in Burster Cone Assembly for Boring Type Miner Head, now Patent No. 2,783,038.

The upper chain guide 21 and its auxiliary chain guide 2.6 is. substantially identical to the lower main chain guide 24 and its auxiliary chain guides 27 seen in Figs. 1 and 2. However, the lower auxiliary chain guide 27 is arranged to support the auxiliary pusher plate 42, and as seen in Fig. 6, the auxiliary chain guide 27 has its sprocket 31 mounted upon a stub shaft 56. The auxiliary chain guide 27 has a similar extension to that shown at 53 in Fig. 3 to support the idler shoe 32 which is mounted upon -a pin 57 threaded into the auxiliary chain guide 27.

As seen in Fig. 2 particularly, the auxiliary pusher plate 42 is guided for movement with respect to the main pusher plate 41 by means of a guide flange 58 extending from the main pusher plate 41 and overlapping the auxiliary pusher plate 42.

As with the upper guide 21 and its auxiliary guide 26, the lower auxiliary guide 27 is movable with respect to the lower main guide 24 by means of a piston and cylinder construction similar to that shown in Fig. 3; The auxiliary pusher plate 42 is of course supported by the auxiliary chain guide 27 and moves with respect to the main pusher plate 41 upon movement of the auxiliary guide 27 in both a retracting and` extending direction.` When the lower chain guide 24 is lifted by its lifting cylinders, not shown, the auxiliary pusher plate 42 moves with the main pusher plate 41.

The machine embodying the improvements according to the present invention may thus be retracted as seen in Fig. 2 so that it may move out of the machine in the room in which it operates.

When the auxiliary chain guides are moved to their extended position, as seen in Fig. 3 the unsupported length between the auxiliary chain guides and the main chain guide is not required to provide any cutting action. As is well known, a cutter chain isordinarily not effective for cutting action unless it bears against some form of support. However, the peripheral limit of cutting of the boring arms 14 is made tangent to the unsupported length of the cutter chain but in a plane forward thereof, so that the boring arms alone do the cutting at these places. This construction enables the cutter guide to have the telescoping action previously described which enables the machine to have greater latitude of operation than has been possible heretofore.

As seen in Figs. 1 and 2 the machine cuts a substantially rectangular shaped room and the room may be timbered as seen in Fig. 2 by roof timbers 61 supported at each side of the room by props 62 and 63. When the machine isl operated to its retracted position as seen in Fig. 2 it may readily be removed from the room without effecting the placement of the props 62 and 63. Also, the machine according to the present invention enables the cut to be a great deal larger than the overall dimension of the machine, and the room may thereby be adequately supported in accordance with the advance of the machine.

While the invention has been described by the terms of a preferred embodiment, its scope is intended to be limited only by the terms of the claim here appended.

I claim as my invention:

n In a mining machine of the type having a pair of bor'- ing arms arranged to cut a pair of contiguous bores in a seam of coal or the like, a cutter chain for cutting a cusp remaining from the action of said boring arms including a longitudinally extending guide for said cutter chain, said cutter chainV guide comprising a iixed portion and a portion movable relative thereto along the longitudinalaxis of said iixed portion whereby said cutter chain augments the action of said boring arms, means for moving said portions relative to each other, said movable portion being extended to a position whereby said chain guide isvdiscontinuous and said cutter chain is unsupported between said relatively movable portions, said discontinuity of said guide being tangent to the circle described by a boring arm, and whereby the cutting action of said boring arm alone is effective at said discontinuity.

(References on following page) 5 6 References Cited in the le of this patent 2,753,169 Joy July 3, 1956 UNITED STATES PATENTS lgftllils et al- "FTD-2;, 1,233,494 Morgan July 17, 1917 l ge e 2,093,448 Joy sept.; 1937 5 FOREIGN PATENTS 2,705,625 Robbins Apr, 5, 1955 496,181 Belgium oct. 2, 1950 2,719,709 Salmans Oct. 4, 1955 

